Senate Republican Leader Steven Oroho said Governor Phil Murphy’s latest budget increases spending by billions while missing the mark on tax relief, school funding, and transparency.

“Governor Murphy has increased state spending by 50% since he took office, including the nearly $3.5 billion increase he has planned for next year,” said Oroho (R-24). “Despite all of this spending, he continues to cut aid to hundreds of school districts and has failed to provide real inflation relief to New Jerseyans. He’s continuing to pour billions into slush funds controlled by Democrat party bosses, while ignoring Republican plans to increase transparency and oversight of state spending.”

The governor’s $54 billion spending plan for Fiscal Year 2024 is nearly $20 billion larger than the budget in place when he took office six years ago.

The budget proposal funnels billions more into the state’s debt defeasance and avoidance fund, with no guarantee that any of the money will be used to pay down debt. It can just as easily be used to fund pork projects favored by Democrat bosses who control the fund and falsely billed as “debt prevention.” Similarly, proposed allocations for billions in remaining pandemic relief funds are decided privately by a small group of Democrats and approved without public hearings or debate.

Oroho noted that the budget plan fails to address tax bracket creep resulting from inflation and won’t prevent automatic tax increases that the Murphy administration has repeatedly failed to stop.

“New Jersey deserves relief from tax bracket creep and higher payroll taxes that will continue to take more from their wallets more next year,” said Oroho. “When the state is flush with money, there’s no excuse for Governor Murphy to continue ignoring tax relief that would make a big difference to families and businesses struggling with inflation. I’m also concerned there’s no tax deduction for contributions to charitable organizations that offer important services in our communities that governments would otherwise have to provide at taxpayer expense. ”

Oroho also warned that more school funding cuts may be on the table for hundreds of school districts.

“Since he took office, Governor Murphy has cut funding each year to hundreds of rural and suburban school districts,” added Oroho. “If we’re funneling $1 billion more into education, there shouldn’t be cuts to any school districts, especially as we’re dealing with plunging test scores and pandemic learning loss across New Jersey.”

Oroho urged Governor Murphy and the Democrats who control the Legislature to consider Republican budget solutions that have been offered.

“Republicans have proposed fixes to stop wasteful spending and offer inflation relief that Democrats have ignored,” Oroho added. “We’ve proposed more transparent and fair processes for using pandemic and debt relief funds to help taxpayers, lower state debt, and fund important programs. We’ve proposed targeted tax cuts to make the state more competitive, and proposed protecting our schools from harmful cuts in state aid. We can address all of these problems with the solutions Republicans have proposed.”